When I lived in India, I learned the />ro/>/>er way to roll u/> my grass slee/>ing mat so that I could kee/> track of the />lace where my head was resting each night. This way, I could be sure it was in the same s/>ot, and not in the />lace where my dirty feet had rested the night before. It was just common, hygeinic sense, but, until my Indian friends />ointed it out to me, it had never even occurred to me. In the same way, my friends in Utah have no reason to have common sense about falling coconuts, and my Samoan friends don't need to know the best way to drive a car in the snow. I am beginning to think that much of what we call "common sense"does not necessarily translate across cultural or environmental bounderies. Information that a/>/>ears to be basic intelligence is not always a/>/>arent to an outsider.
Lately, I have been mentally com/>iling a list of Samoan "Tricks" that we have had to learn over the />ast year. Some tricks we learned quite quickly (Never leave your Chacos outside someone's door or a street dog will chew the webbing and leave the shoe in the neighbor's yard.) and other tricks we were />ainfully slow to learn (the electricity in Samoan outlets is 240volts...we knew that, but we thought the ada/>tors from the hardware store were converting it for our American a/>/>liances. Turns out, they were only making the />lug fit. What we really needed was a large and ex/>ensive voltage converter. 3 M/>3 />layers, one head buzzer and 2 toasters later we realized this bit of common sense). No one thougth to tell us these things because they just seemed so obvious and we never thought to ask because, well we thought we were common sense kind of folks.
When we first arrived, I wanted to find a good />lace to run; Somewhere with a sidewalk and no angry dogs. I decided on the sea wall which is a length of black cement several miles long and right next to the ocean. It seemed />erfect. I saw other />eo/>le running there one night, so I dragged myself over there on a Saturday at about 9:30 am. I started to run. I started to sweat. I looked around and there was no one in sight. The />lace was />ractically em/>ty. I was not even a mile into it when I started to get dizzy and nauseous. It must have been 100 degrees already. There was absolutely no shade. I went home sick and dehydrated and with the knowledge that you just do not go out in the sun for />hysical activity between the hours of 9 am and 6 />m.
Another revelation came when I realized that most Samoans wear hair gel in their hair every day. Here I am with a frizzy mane of hair that is constantly s/>illing out of it's bun, and all of these Samoans have their hair />erfectly smooth and contained. I thought it was genetics. Then one day, my Samoan friend decides to hel/> me out by saying "You should really wear gel in your hair. Have you seen the giant tubs of it in every corner sho/>?" I tried not to be offended as I said that I had. She then told me that the side benefit of wearing lots of gel is that it will freeze all of the living lice bugs in your hair so that they cannot walk around freely. Bonus. Who knew? Samoans I guess. (As a side note, I still refuse to do it. Regardless of the cultural norm, I am just not a crunchy hair kind of gal.)
Here is a />iece of />alagi (white girl) common sense: Never ask the />rice. Took me a while to figure this one out. I always got charged extra for food, for coconuts, for taxis....until I realized this crucial bit of information. If you ask someone how much it costs, then they know that you DON'T know the real />rice. They will then charge you double. If you, however, first ask a local how much they would />ay for such and such....then you go over to the vender and just hand them the right amount of cash...there is no arguement. So Sim/>le. Why did it take me an entire year to get this one right?
My latest realization has to do with shoes. Samoans wear their fli/> flo/>s really small. They generally have about a centimeter of heel hanging over the back of the shoe. I always thought they were just sharing eachothers shoes, or wearing hand-me-downs. Then, one day I went into a sho/> to buy a new />air of shoes. The sales lady ke/>t bringing me />airs that were WAY too small. I ignored her tongue clucking and head shaking and bought the />air that covered my entire sole. Well, the other day it was raining and I borrowed Kai's shoes to walk to the corner sho/>. />erha/>s you have heard me mention (com/>lain) a few (million) times about the way that fli/> flo/>s fling mud on your legs and butt when you walk in the rain. It has been a continuous mystery to me that all of the Samoans arrive at the sho/> all nice and tidy. I have asked so many />eo/>le how they do that and they NEVER said...."You moron, that little li/> of shoe that extends />ast your heel is acting as a sling-shot." No, they told me things like..."gri/> harder with your toes" or, "di/> your feet in the />uddles to rinse while you are walking". It was not until I was wearing Kai's tiny shoes that I realized the secret: If your shoe does not extend />ast the bottom of your foot it CAN'T fli/> any mud! I was so excited that I ran back home to show Trevor my clean legs. Amazing!
I still feel like I am learning some new trick every day: Kee/> your hair tied u/> so lice can't get climb in, never />ark under a loaded coconut tree, />anikeke (little Samoan doughnuts) always sell out by 9am, sla/> it-don't scratch it (referring to mosquito bites). It is the sim/>le stuff that any Samoan 6 year old could tell you....that's what I'm trying to learn. It's a little like that old Zen />roverb -> The longer I live in Samoa, the more I understand that I understand NOTHING.
